The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1887-07-28
BATTLE BANNERS.
An Hour With the Flags on Mission
Ridge.
lGen. II. y Boynson IN Cincinnati Commercial
Gazette.

lGen- III. y. Boynton IN Cincinnati Commercial
Gazstts
A storming party, 10000 strong, from the
Army of the Cumberland stood facing Mission
airy Ridge. For two days great battle scenes
had been passing before the eyes Of the men
composing it. Half of them had taken part in
that swift advance from CHATTANOOGA which,
almost before the enemy had corrected the
mistake of regarding it as a general review
swept mile out into the plain and captured
his entire line of advanced works. All of them
had stood the day before watching and cheering
as Hooker's lines on Lookout, radiant with the
flag they worshiped, swept around the point
Of the mountain, and seemed to roll over the
lines of the Stars and Bars and crush them
backward and down the sleeps. The cheers of
the armies below, the music Of all their bands,
and the rush and roar Of the battle on the
slopes above were yet ringing in their ears, and
to those living are ringing still. All Of them
at daybreak had gazed intently toward Look
out to see if it could be determined who held
the summit And all Of them, with trimming
eyes and thankful and exultant hearts, had
cheered and cheered. and eheered till voices
failed, that Banner of Stars, which, as the sun
touched the point of the mountain, stood re-
vealed on its highest crag.
And now, after this long and exciting wait
ing, stirred to the depths OF soldier feeling by
the swift and magnificent sweep Of the spec
i
storming army facing the slopes of Missionary
| Ridge. From earthworks at its base, from a
second line halfway to the summit, and from
works along the crest, an army Of rebellion
waited under the shelter of half hundred
guns, and waved its battleflags in defiance. 1t
was mile across the plain to the lower line of
earthworks. 1t was half mile further up the
rough and tangled slopes. Eighty-seven Union
regiments each with its flags, for most carried
two, stood formed in two lines with proper re-
serves most impatiently awaiting the signal for
advance. At length il came-six guns from
Orchard Neutrality-suspicious.
| boom-boom! Who of those who heard will ever
| forget? As the firing progressed every soldier
| with bated breath had counted Oue-twO-
our-fve-six-with only pause
enough to see that no seventh followed, and
that this was really the signal of six guns, and
| instantly all rifles went up to the shoulder and
/ flags to the belts Of the standard bearers. All
| officers cried " forward" and with mighty
/ cheers those double lines of blue, so clearly
| marked and still further relieved by their
| beautiful flags and cleaning rifles, burst for
ward into the plain as if shot arrowlike from
| the terrible restraint which had held them so
| long. The Union front was two miles and
| half. There were four divisions; in all IL
| brigades. This magnificent array had scarcely
advanced into the plain from the light timber
which partially concealed it, before the summit
/
90 guns, and the air was alive with missiles
| raining on the attacking columns. Bat there
/ was no wavering in that long line of flags, or
| in the ranks of the army that was pushing
them forward. In 10 minutes the lines were
under musketry fire from the works at the
base Of the ridge Though the list of Union
| killed and wounded grew at every pace those
| lines swept up to and over the earthworks ut
| the foot of the slopes, and under the served
batteries above. With brief pause at points
/ for correcting the lines the climbing of the
/ nights began. Shell and canister, and the sleet
| of rifles poured down from the crest, but only
| the killed and wounded were halted by any or
| all of these. The lines swept on and up, and
that wonderful and never to- be- forgotten piano.
rama of the flags unfolded itself in the clear
sunlight. Let the reader look at it from
among the wounded toward the base of the
| ridge, who seemed to forget even home and
| eternity, which was so near, as they lay there
| gazing on the wonderful scene and cheering
their comrades on.
The lines had scarcely begun the ascent when
| far as the eye could reach the hag-bearerS were
rushing in advance, and each regiment crowd
| ing toward its colors had taken the shape of an
| inverted V; the flags at the angle and these
wedge-shaped battalions were cleaving their
| way under murderous fire toward the summit
/ The eye could not run down the lines without
seeing flag-bearer fall. For some regiments
1 uNO or SIX were killed. WOulueu before the
flag of Stars took the place ofSstars and Bars on
the browning works of the ridge. The whole
| face Of the mOuntain-for it was little less
was soon covered with soldiers in blue. The
front lines were rushing for the top. The Sec
| ond lines and the reserves broke against the
| ENHANCEMENT at the base, and the rocks, ravines
and fallen timber in their course. And yet
the general formation was preserved. Baird's
men on the left were climbing where horses
could not be ridden. Wood, to the right, was
under the fiercest fire, but his flags went on
with all the rest Sheridan and his staff were
| in full view of both armies, riding in advance
with his headquarters colors straight on the
batteries near Bragg's headquarters, and the
| flags of Johnson on the extreme right showed
that there also the flood tide of that blue sea of
Union men with all its flags advanced was
about to pour over the crest.
One moment, and the rebel battlefags waved
! everywhere along the summit, the Stars and
Bars floated from the staff at Bragg's tents; so
| guns poured death upon that stOrming army,
and rifle-pits, filled with the men who made
those splendid assaults on the Union lines at
Chickamauga, famed increasingly in the faces
of the men who were pushing and supporting
the flags. The next, Bairds troops had scaled
| the cliff which ran along the summit above
them. Wood had carried the crest along his
| whole front, Sheridan with his staff and his
lines was among the guns on top, and johnson
Deyouu stooi III tue reDeI WOrkS. FROM riShL
to left the sun shone clear and bright only on
the flags before which the banners of treason
had fallen. Fifty-fve minutes had passed
| from the firing of the signal guns. 10
was exactly an hour to the time when the
cheers of victory had run down the Union
lines-only an hour with the flags! How the
mind rushes on TO all the other hours, and
days, and months, and years in which the
Union armies advanced their own banners and
captured the emblems Of treasonI
More than one-ffth of that storming party
were killed and wounded. A single division
lost 1913 officers and 1,179 men. Another lost
over 1000. There were % rebel flags captured.
Behold the cost! Is it strange that the men
who took them, and the loyal communities
who sent these soldiers forth and sustained and
encouraged them, are stirred TO the depths of
their souls with emotions which cannot be con-
trolled when sacrilege is attempted with such